Through the Serpent's Eyes
by Khepri
Summary: Sixth year starts and the Slytherins soon find out that the Ministery can conduct raids and arrest anyone for any reason or the lack thereof. Their hopes to squash the Dark Lord ASAP turn life into hell for Blaise, Draco and the others.
1. Summer's End

**Author's Note: **Who here feels that the Slytherins are always under represented in the HP series or portrayed as evil, horny little bastards in the fanfics? Well, I'm one of them. Rather than waiting for Miss Rowling to realize that they need to be mentioned more in the books or even for her to tell us if Blaise Zabini is a boy or a girl, I've decided to take matters into my own hands. Now, I'm not going to try and sugar coat their lives or anything, but rather how about we see what they're like after the Order?

**Disclaimer:** I only wish that I owned the characters. Despite how much I hated the fifth book, everything still belongs to JK Rowling.

Oh, and remember, reviews are good.

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"Miss Zabini! Miss Blaise Zabini!"

A shrill voice could be heard calling a name repeatedly as its owner, a small house elf, ran through the fields of the Zabini's property. Off in the distance, a rider looked over her shoulder as her wavy hair blew out behind her. A smirk trailed lazily across her lips as the elf continued running towards her, waving its arms over its head to attract the girl's attention.

"Miss Blaise Zabini!"

The only reason the girl ever stopped was because her steed spooked. Many horses - winged horses being no exception - find it greatly disturbing to have a small, shrieking creature running towards them. In essence, the horse panicked and began rearing, flailing its legs out infront of it.

"Lury! Lury, I will personally see to it that your ears are ironed!" the dark haired girl vowed as she clung tightly to her mount. It was only by luck that her favorite horse, a high strung Granian named Storm Dancer, had pulled up lame the other day so she had decided to ride the much more docile Aethonan, Shattered Fortune. While rearing was bad enough, her Granian would have bolted, flinging her from its back before trampling her.

The poor house elf wrung her hands, desperately trying to better the situation. "Lury will box herself, Miss Zabini! Lury will squish her toes and stamp on her fingers, too!"

"Shut up!" Blaise hissed, shifting her weight forward in the saddle and then back again as the usually clam horse bucked, reared and beat its massive wings. "Fortune! Easy girl. Easy. C'mon, babe. It's ok. Shhh..."

The horse finally calmed to its master's softly spoken words and began prancing lightly and uneasily on the thick grass with its ears swivelling constantly. As the house elf approached, it snorted and shook its head several times while its rider smiled fondly and began stroking its neck, all the while whispering calming words.

Lury, worried beyond all reasoning that her master's daughter was near death, began babbling incoherent phrases. "Miss Zabini! No helmet wearing! Isn't shirt all the way buttoned? Malfoys here... Lury tell you..."

"What?" the girl snapped, causing her horse to toss its head and prance around in distress. "Why?"

If nothing else, she had been able to understand that the Malfoys were over. And she knew very well that the only reason the Malfoys ever came by was because the adults had, well, business with each other shall we say. It would result in a mess that Blaise did not want to find herself tangled up in nor did she even want to be around them. Her parents alone were bad enough but Lucious Malfoy, he was a whole other story.

The way he kept leering at her, not unlike how he did to everything else in a skirt, made her want to scream. His eyes alone made her feel like she would never be clean. If it wasn't Blaise's mother, then she was the one being looked at like she was a particularly tasty slab of meat.

"Lury doesn't know. Mrs. Zabini only said to bring Miss Blaise inside."

"Fine. I'm coming."

The house elf scurried back in the general direction of the mansion and stables while the Slytherin girl urged her horse into a light trot. Fortune rustled her wings, folding them carefully at her sides, while she shook out her mane several times and headed back to the buildings.

Eyes of a dark brown with occasional green speckles near the pupil roamed the scenery with a downcast air. With summer's end just around the corner, there was nothing to look forward to besides school. And that was only bearable to a certain extent. Maybe the Golden Gryffindor Trio would stall Voldemort's plans yet again! Wouldn't that be a great surprise?

"Walk it off, girl," Blaise murmured to her horse as she shifted down to a walk. Not only would the slower gait cool her horse down, it would also give the human time to be outside longer. And she had nothing against that.

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All summer long, all fricking summer long, Lucious Malfoy had been in Azkaban and it was obviously beginning to affect his family. At her wit's end, Narcissa threw herself into a fit of rage that broke three crystal vases, a chandelier and caused a few paintings to become blank as their inhabitants fled to a safer part of the manor. With only a few days left until the school year began, her son began counting down the minutes until he could hopefully find some sort of sanity.

The only reason that Narcissa had decided to pay the Zabinis a visit was because she was looking for a good lay. Ever since her husband had gone to Azkaban prison, Narcissa had started paying the "family friends" more and more frequent visits. Between that and the shameless flirting she did, it wasn't that hard for Draco to figure out that his mom was sleeping with Alexandro Zabini. Blaise probably knew it too, he figured, and she spent more time out of the house than she did in it.

"Nicoleta, how wonderful to see you again," the blonde woman said with false enthusiasm as she clasped Blaise's equally dark haired and dark complexioned mother in a hug.

"Whatever we can do to help you in your time of need, we will do," she replied, giving the other woman an air kiss similar to how Muggle celebrities would.

"Yes, it is so difficult to run the house with Lucious locked away," Narcissa simpered, her eyes brimming artistically with pain and sorrow.

"Our home is always open to you and yours," Nicoleta's husband said as soon as the two women broke apart. Then he took Narcissa's dainty hand in his and brushed his lips across her knuckled, never once breaking eye contact with her.

The more Mediterranean appearing of the two women tensed visibly with a sour expression as a coy smirk appeared on Narcissa's carefully painted lips. But, as she more or less aware that her husband knew of her own infidelities, Nicoleta remained silent. Affairs were just what happened when people went through with arranged marriages as most Slytherins did.

"Draco, darling, perhaps you want to find Blaise?" his mother asked in a tone that left little room for debate.

"Knowing her, she's still outside with the horses," Nicoleta commented. "Lury, I told you to go get her."

"Lury will take Mr. Draco Malfoy to the stables," piped up the house elf after cowering under her mistress's scowls.

"Excellent. Draco, darling, follow the house elf," ordered his mother, giving him a slight push towards the door. Draco wasn't going to protest. Watching his mother fawn over someone was thoroughly disturbing and not something he wanted to witness.

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The chestnut Aethonan's coat shone proudly in the late summer sun as a stiff bristled brush brushed it down. With her nose buried deep in a couple flakes of hay, searching for the perfect mouthful and a good exercise behind her, Fortune couldn't have been happier.

"Whose gonna ride you when I'm gone, hm?" the girl asked as she placed a kiss on her horse's neck.

In reply, the horse nickered and lifted her head from the hay. As Blaise stepped out from around her, Fortune bumped her head into her owner's chest in her search for the treats that sometimes she got if she was nosy enough.

"If I tried that, you'd kill me," came a bored sounding observation. Blaise looked up to see Draco Malfoy standing a few feet away with an amused smirk on his lips.

"It's lucky for both of us then that you aren't trying," she replied as she unburied a carrot that the horse had been unable to unearth from the hay and fed it to her. "You'd be much worse for the wear."

The blond chuckled, shaking several stray hands of hair out of his steel colored eyes. "Zabini, you really needn't be so violent. And threatening prefects won't get you far."

"Shove it. Besides, we're not in school."

"Excellent. No rules."

Draco had to sidestep the brush that was thrown at him following his offhanded remark. The girl who threw it remained silent as she untied the lead rope from the fence. Giving her horse a few affectionate strokes along her neck, she lead her to the pasture gate and opened it. As soon as her halter was removed, Blaise exited the pasture and secured the gate behind her.

Storm, seeing that her pasture buddy had been let loose, let out a whiney and shook her head several times. The other mare whinnied as well and then trotted over to graze with Storm as the Granian searched for a new clump of grass, limping on her injured leg.

"Lighten up, Zabini. We could always blame our parents for being poor role models," said the boy.

The girl shivered, a disgusted look coming onto her face. "Please, Draco. I don't want to think of my dad doing your mum or vice versa."

His eyebrow shot up in a surprised quirk. Clearly he hadn't known of the later of the two pairings.

"My father's shagging your mum?" he asked.

"My mum's the one who started the infidelity circle in our families. Why do you think she was so upset when your father got shipped off to Azkaban?" the girl questioned, not waiting for, nor expecting, an answer.

The 16 year old did nothing to act like his gaze was elsewhere as Blaise picked out the stray pieces of hay that had fallen onto, or into, her riding shirt as Fortune searched for treats.

"Aren't those supposed to be buttoned?" he asked mildly, indicating the top few buttons of her blouse that were left undone.

"Since when do you care?" Blaise rebuked.

"Well, the way I see it, it should either be all done or undone. Do you want me to - Ow! That bloody hurt!" he protested savagely as the girl whipped him across the arm and back with the loose end of the lead rope.

"Good, I'm not losing my touch," she commented airily as she brushed by him, the halter and rope draped over her shoulder. After hanging them alongside the rest of Fortune's tack, she turned towards the house, looking over her shoulder when Draco called to her.

"Where are you going now, Zabini?"

"To the house to change, Malfoy. We might as well do something useful while our parents are entertaining themselves. I was thinking of getting my things from Diagon Alley," she shouted back before continuing towards her mansion.

"Good idea," Malfoy said, jogging to catch up with her. "Your mum can come with and pretend that she has no idea that your dad's shagging my mum."

"That's the plan."

As the two got out of sight, the Zabini's Porlock crawled out of the straw of one of the horse's stalls where it had been hiding from the two humans. When it was convinced that they had indeed left, it walked out into the pasture to watch over the two mares and the rest of the winged horses that were meandering abouit. It was an impressive herd consisting of horses such as Abraxans to Granians, even with a Thestral being at home among them.

The Porlock looked up warily as a shout, followed quickly by a laugh, rang out. Seeing that it was only the boy rubbing his shin and hobbling along and the feisty brunette, it settled down in the grass to watch over its six charges.


	2. The Purification Begins

**Author's Note:** Oh, just for people who were curious, Porlocks and the various species of winged horses are mentioned in _Fantastic Creatures and Where to Find Them_, a book that can be bought at any bookstore. I think. I only stole it from my sister; I don't know where you really get it. Oh, and now for the review responses.

_Tynkerbell:_ I hear you, but I like the Muggle references because they're pretty good similes that most people would be able to understand. At least in my opinion. But don't worry, there aren't going to be a lot of them.

_Canadian-Chick:_ Thanks.

_LMTran:_ It's nice to know that I got you back into reading cannon fics. The plot begins to unfold in this chapter so you won't be in the dark for long.

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Everyone did their Hogwarts shopping at the last minute, mostly because the lists weren't sent out until a couple weeks before the semester started. Now, with only a few days until the semester started, there were more people looking for school supplies than doing anything else.

Fighting through the crowds only to buy a specific book was pretty depressing, but people did what they had to do. That didn't mean that everyone enjoyed it, or that it didn't rip his or her nerves to shreds.

"So, we got the books right?" Blaise asked, looking over Draco's shoulder at the folded, crumpled and smudged list he held in his hands. Prefect or not, school supplies did not hold a special place in his heart.

"No, we forgot the revised edition of _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_," he answered after inspecting the list.

"What? No we didn't!" the girl said quickly, snatching the parchment from his hands. After looking through the titles that they had bought and comparing it to what was on the list, she had to agree that they did forget the last book. Why they needed a revised edition was beyond her though. Hadn't the last edition come out only a few years ago? Or was she thinking of _The Monster Book of Monsters_?

"While you two find what you need for school, I'm going to stop in Knockturn Alley. You can get back to the mansion alone, correct?" Blaise's mother asked sourly. At this very moment, that little wench was... no, she couldn't think about that. It would give her premature frown marks and that would only make her husband want another mistress more.

"Yes, mother," her daughter replied automatically, still looking through their new books in hopes that she had over looked the one they were missing.

"Stay out of trouble," Nicoleta advised. "Don't go running around, screaming that the Dark Lord is coming or anything like that."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Blaise said and then gave Draco an exasperated look. "We really don't have the book."

"I told you."

"Shove it."

"Oh, and one more thing," the adult of the group said, looking over her shoulder at the two teenagers. "Be careful where you step. Everyone's paranoid now."

The dark haired girl made a face at Draco as her mother swept through the crowds with her expensive cloak fluttering lightly at her sides. The looks of complete contempt that she gave to whatever unfortunate person got in her way were priceless and they helped her get a clearer path to her destination.

"Malfoy, I have a wonderful idea. You can go in and get the books for us and I'll stay out here and save our place in the street," the girl said with false, bright enthusiasm.

"Blaise, I have an even better idea. You can go buy the rest of the things on our lists and I can get myself some ice cream," he mocked in just as bright of a tone.

With a snort, she said sarcastically, "I don't think I'd even be able to get in the store."

Sick of hearing her complaining, the platinum blond grabbed her wrist and began to drag her back into Flourish and Blotts. And really, once they got past the crowd that was crowded near the entrance, fighting over the remaining copies of _So the Dark Lord's After You: Ways to Protect Yourself_, it wasn't that hard for them to find their way around the store.

"Oi, look here, Frank. It says that if you put water in a crystal goblet and mix it with slivers of unicorn horn and then sprinkle it on the threshold of your house, no evil can enter!"

"That's lies and you know it, Rose. Besides, how could we afford slivers of unicorn horn?" the man replied, pulling the book from his wife's hands and steering her towards the exit.

"Can you put a price on our safety? Or the safety of our children?" the woman protested in outrage as another couple pounced upon the abandoned book. Apparently news that several Death Eaters were thrown in Azkaban and that the Dark Lord had arisen had finally begun to spread despite Fudge's attempts to stop them.

"People believe that stuff?" Blaise asked, raising a carefully shaped eyebrow in Draco's direction.

The young man snickered, his lips twitching up into a casual smirk. "I'd love to see their faces when evil does enter their house, despite their heroic attempts to stop it."

His female companion snickered in amusement, then pulled in front of him as she saw the last book they needed on one of the shelves.

"Finally," she breathed, reaching out for two copies of the deep purple book. A hand, much less taken care of than her own carefully groomed one, grabbed one of the books at the exact same time she did.

The two girls, Muggleborn and Pureblood alike, looked at each other with contempt in their eyes. Blaise let go of her end of the book as if there was a contagious disease on the other end. Her face even contorted into a disgusted grimace like she had just had sludge dropped at her feet.

"Granger, what's worse?" she asked, "The state of your nails or the fact that I have to see you before the year's even begun?"

"Zabini, what's more suprising? You speaking to me before the year started or you holding a book?" Hermione replied cooly, balancing her book in the crook of her arm while the other girl carefully pulled a different one off the shelf.

"Something wrong, 'Mione?" asked a familiar looking red head that came up behind her. Upon seeing the two Slytherins, his face fell and he wrinkled his freckled nose. "Oh."

"Tell me, Weasley, is your family going to buy a book to learn how to protect yourselves from the Dark Lord or are you just going to trust that Potter's going to always be there for you?" Draco asked, pulling Blaise back near his side.

"I think we'll manage, Malfoy. But tell me, how's your father doing in Azkaban?" Ron asked in what would have appeared to be a concerned tone to anyone who was passing by.

Rather than buying his attempt at innocence, Draco narrowed his eyes and squeezed Blaise's wrist so tightly to keep from doing anything extremely regrettable that she had to stop herself from whimpering or crying out.

"Watch it, Weasel. You're on thin ice," he threatened darkly.

Hermione's eyes darted between the two males. Worry leapt into her thoughts as she bit her lip, about to break the silence that descended over all of them. A fight in the middle of the bookstore hadn't happened since second year when Arthur Weasley and Lucious Malfoy let their anger get a little out of control. Was that about to happen again with their sons?

"Draco, let go," said Blaise in a shaky tone that almost seemed to echo around them as she attempted to twist her wrist out of his grasp, but to no avail.

Her helpless sounding voice snapped the two boys back to reality. As soon as the blond realized what she was asking, he let go of her wrist and she clutched it to her chest, trying to rub the feeling back into it.

"See you at school, Weasley," Draco said through a clenched jaw. Without another word, he turned sharply, brutally shoving his way past two young witches that were looking over a colorful book with a unicorn on the cover.

Even Draco himself probably didn't know where he was headed. He just suddenly felt like he had a lot of steam to blow and that a human punching bag would be the perfect outlet. Suprisingly, he wasn't usually that violent of a person. Usually.

Outside, the sky had grown dark and overcast like it seemed to be every single day in England. By the time he had bothered to look up, he felt the first drops of rain falling onto his nose. Hopefully it would only be a light sprinkling, but with the sort of weather they had all the time, no one ever knew.

"Draco! Draco, slow down," called a voice somewhere behind him, somewhere in the crowd.

The young man in question turned, his cold eyes falling upon Blaise's face as she skirted between people before suddenly appearing at his shoulder.

"Take your bloody book," she scowled, thrusting the book that she had to buy after he stormed out at his chest before glaring up at him accusingly. "What was that all about in there?"

"You saw what happened. You should be able to figure it out," he snapped in return.

How she felt like slapping him. Smacking that sour look off his face would've given her such pleasure. "Didn't you listen to my mum? She might be completely neurotic, but she did have a point. Do you honestly think that you could've just started a fight and walked out in one piece?"

Now it was his turn to turn hostile. His eyes narrowed once more as he looked down at her, at the angry fire in her eyes. "Are you saying that a Weasley could get the better of me? Whose side are you on, Zabini?"

"The side that doesn't want to get thrown in Azkaban," she replied coldly. "Haven't you noticed that everyone's so paranoid? Haven't you noticed that the Ministry is being called in for every tiny thing that people think goes wrong? Everyone's afraid that the Dark Lord will turn up on their doorstep and kill them. Or have you not noticed what happens since your father got locked up?"

"Don't you dare bring my father into this," he said in a severe, deadly tone. Blaise, however, didn't seem anywhere close to the end of her rant and took no notice of the danger in his voice.

"Everyone is scared, Draco. And everyone is looking for a reason to blame it on us. Now is not the time to get in fights with Mudbloods or Muggle lovers. Seriously, we can sneeze the wrong way and people get suspicious," she finished scornfully.

"You're not one to lecture me about my temper," he commented harshly before snorting at her and continuing on his way. There were too many Mudbloods around here. He had to get to a place where he would be around people who listened to him and understood where he was coming from. Maybe he could go to a pub in Knockturn Alley or strike up some sort of conversation with a hag. They at least were worse off than he was.

"Trust me, things are only beginning," she called after his retreating form. Seeing that he didn't even change pace when she spoke, Blaise scowled and stormed off in the other direction. Men could be such pricks.

When Draco finally reached the dark alley, all his plans vanished from his mind. The entire street was empty. As far as he could see, every shop had been cleared out and there was no one in sight. Even the occasional scraps of paper that could usually be seen floating around were gone. It was like he had entered a ghost town.

Eyebrows knitted together in confusion, he slowly walked through the alley. His eyes picked up every detail that they could, but all that was there was the abandoned alley and the empty shops. How could there be absolutely nothing left? It was like everyone had packed up and in a hurry too.

A fluttering paper caught his attention, probably because it was the only other thing in the alley beside himself. It was attached to one of the walls, like some sort of poster or warrant, but had begun to peel off at the bottom. Curiously, he approached it, reaching for it and carefully tearing away whatever was still holding it to the damp bricks.

Although the notice couldn't have been that old, some of the letters had run together from the various rains it had been through and the slight drizzle it was facing now. If Draco made an effort though, he found that it wasn't that difficult to read.

"Because of suspicious behavior, Knockturn Alley has been closed until further notice," he read. "The people thought to be responsible shall have their dwellings searched thoroughly by trained Aurors. In these dark times, we find that we can take no risks that would allow He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to rise to power once again. If we are fortunate, these actions will be all that is necessary."

The Slytherin let go of the paper, watching it flutter away in the wind as the rain continued to drip on him annoyingly. If the Ministry was able to shut down all of Knockturn Alley, it would be too simple for them to destroy everyone's home in search for whatever dark materials they could find. God, he had hardly any idea what was going on. If his father hadn't been in Azkaban, he would've known about this sooner. But it was up to him to keep his eye and ears open. Technically, he was the man of the house now.

"Blaise was right," he murmured to himself. "Things are going to get messy."

Shoving his hands into his pockets, he headed back towards Diagon Alley. He had absolutely no idea what was going on and how complex the situation actually was. Right now, all he wanted to do was to finish buying whatever else he needed for school and tell Blaise and any other Slytherins he met about what was going on.

As soon as he entered the bright street, someone crashed into him. Draco got an eyeful of blonde hair, the shade of peroxide, and an earful of shrieking before realizing whom he had crashed into.

"Parkinson?" he asked warily, holding a hand to one of his ears.

"Draco!" the girl squealed, as if she were a Muggle that had just run into Orlando Bloom. "Draco, how are you?"

"Fine," he lied, making a face as he tried to pop his ears. "Look, are you here with other people?"

"Millicent Bullstrode's getting new school robes and I thought I saw Blaise skulking about somewhere," Pansy replied, clutching Draco's arm happily.

"Can you find them and bring them here? We have a serious situation on our hands."


	3. Anger Management?

**Author's Note:** This chapter is probably my most random one yet. (Not saying much as there are only 3.) I just started editing what I had down originally and this is what came out. I'm not sure if I'm happy with it, but what the heck.

_Micheala90: _Thanks for the link. I really like your story. Go Girl!Blaise!!

_Broadwaypoetess: _Yup, I read your story. And reviewed it. Yes, let's all have a moment of silence for poor Knocturn Alley.

_Nerwen Faelvirin: _An update, just as you requested.

_Elven Sword: _I might go back and edit those errors. You know, if I get around to it. Thanks for catching them. The time that Malfoy called Ron "Weasel" was intentional. (You asked about it in a different story's review thingie.) It's good to hear that someone else out there thinks Slytherins are misrepresented.

**Disclaimer:** Hahahaha, you think I actually own anything? I don't even own this keyboard or the chair I'm sitting in.

Reeeviiieewww… Or I'll be forced to use one of the forbidden curses on you!

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Draco's arm was completely numb. From around his elbow down, he couldn't feel anything but an extremely painful tingling feeling. He had given up trying to pry Pansy off him about five minutes ago. If Blaise weren't so obviously ticked off at him, he would've pleaded with her to beat the other girl off with her shoe or whatever other weapon was at hand.

"Can you please tell me what is going on?" asked Millicent Bullstrode who was not much happier than Blaise. After all, when you're the sort of person who looks like she could be part troll, it is extremely difficult to have school robes to fit you properly.

"I second that," echoed Blaise as she folded her arms over her chest.

Shaking his arm casually, and finding that it didn't detatch Pansy from it, Draco turned and began leading the group down Knockturn Alley.

"You know, Malfoy, I couldn't help but notice that you're the only one of us without anything of value up your shirt. You're not trying to get us into some brothel you've started are you?" inquired a very sarcastic brunette. Her wrist may not have hurt any more, but she didn't get over grudges nearly as quickly as she got over pain.

"Shove it, Zabini," he retorted, stealing the girl's catchphrase.

Just when she may have found good use for her shoe, Blaise was caught off guard by a shriek of surprise.

"Oh my God! Draco, what happened to Knockturn Alley?" a distraught sounding Pansy asked, eyes widened in a manner that made her look like a pug that had had a rocket explode near its rear.

For the second time in less than an hour - maybe even less than half an hour - Draco felt as if his ears would start bleeding and that the eardrums had ruptured. "Pansy... my ears..."

Taking absolutely no notice to what he had said, the girl continued to whine in a very high-pitched voice. "Everything's been taken away! Why? Draco, what happened? What's going on? Draco, I -"

"Parkinson, shut up and put another color changing charm on your hair," Blaise snapped so suddenly that the fake blonde jumped. "My ears hurt from here and Draco's the one right next to you."

Draco looked over Pansy's head to give Blaise an appreciative look, but after receiving a glare from her, found that she only had spoken up because her ears were hurting and not at all to help him. Damn girl had to carry a grudge, didn't she?

"Draco, tell her to stop," begged Pansy, her eyes filling with tears that were supposed to gain everyone's pity but did the exact opposite.

Doing nothing of the sort, Draco glanced around the abandoned alley and voiced his opinions. "The Ministry's probably just paranoid and the people want some action. Nothing to worry about, I'm sure."

Unlike the others, he had seen the warning poster and knew that this really wasn't as casual as he was trying to make it seem. Blaise just stared at him, not believing a word he said.

"Yeah, they just emptied the entire alley and we should just assume that nothing's going on?"

"I'm not saying that-"

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm just saying that this was probably a raid gone out of hand and that things'll be fine soon."

She let out a harsh laugh. "Please, Malfoy. We weren't born yesterday."

"It could be nothing."

"But it isn't."

Feeling something brush against her ankles, Millicent looked down to find a very wet parchment plastered on the ground near her heels. She bent down and carefully picked up the wet paper and made a face as she tried to read it. Well, here was her proof that Draco was trying to sugar coat the situation.

"Because of suspicious behavior," came the voice of Millicent Bullstrode as she read from the flyer. "Knockturn Alley has been closed until further notice. The people thought to be responsible shall have their dwellings searched thoroughly by trained Aurors. In these dark times, we find that we can take no risks that would allow He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to rise to power once again. If we are fortunate, these actions will be all that is necessary."

"What?" the other two girls said in perfect unison.

"The Ministry is cracking down on us?" Pansy asked, looking up at Draco and then over at the others in confusion. "Why? Don't they need warrants or..or... orders or something?"

"I think that they're past that point now, Pansy," Draco muttered.

"Hang on, I think you all missed something," said Blaise, taking the parchment from Millicent and scanning it quickly. "They're going to search our houses. And I don't think that it's just going to be a casual raid."

"Who cares about Knockturn Alley? Half the things my parents have could get them fired from the Ministry or maybe even get them put in Azkaban!" Millicent stated in horror as the truth began to dawn upon all of them.

"I can't have my house searched! What are we going to do, Draco?"

"I don't know, Pansy, alright? Shut up and let me think."

"Draco, I'm scared. What's going to happen to us?" Pansy whimpered, clutching tighter to Draco's arm that was beginning to turn paler than was normal, even for him.

"Draco," Blaise said suddenly, forgetting the fact that she was incredibly pissed at him now for a few moments. "My mom said she was going to Knockturn Alley. Where is she?"

She wasn't worried, or concerned really. Well, not incredibly that is. She had a fairly decent relationship with both of her parents and even if she didn't, the thought of having her family chucked into Azkaban made her feel paranoid. Contrary to the beliefs of many people, the Slytherins really weren't always abused, molested and raped by their parents. They didn't grow up with their parents telling them that they loved them or with any other acts of kindness, but they were still a family and had certain concerns about each other's fortune - even if it only was for personal benefit.

Draco made a face, twisting his bottom lip around before shaking his head at her. "Do you think she went back to the mansion?"

"How should I know? If I was inside her brain, I wouldn't ask you where she was."

"Hey! Calm down," Millicent barked out. Blaise turned in surprise, not ever having been yelled at by a classmate (except for the time when she melted Draco's Ominoculars at the Quidditch World Cup - hey, she had to do something to keep him from vaulting down from the stands to impress the dancing Veelas). Taking a slow breath and running a hand through her bangs, Millicent continued, "If we jump at each other's throats, we won't get anywhere. I don't think that anyone's in immediate danger, so let's just relax, alright?"

Everyone fell silent. The situation floated over their heads more heavily and constricting than the rain that continued dripping onto them. Blaise who sneezed, shaking water off her face and hair in the process, finally broke the silence.

With the seriousness of the situation finally sinking into everyone and thoughts of some sort of horrible practical joke on nearly everyone's mind, Pansy sniffled and buried her face into Draco's arm. "Draco, are we going to die?"

"Parkinson, if you don't shut up this instant, I'll make sure that you will," Blaise threatened, the other girl's pitiful moaning causing her left eyebrow to twitch repeatedly.

The fake blonde looked over at her, positively terrified. She knew first hand that the girl's temper was nothing to be messed with. Madame Pomfrey had actually been quite impressed with the way a pug's nose had been transferred ono Pansy's face one time in third year.

"Either this was a lucky break or whoever did this really knew what they were doing," she had said while examining the snout that blended in surprisingly naturally with the unfortunate girl's skin and twitched when she prodded it with her wand. Their Transfiguration professor had been much less amused, but it was Pansy who really suffered in the long run because people found that saying that she looked like a pug had taken on a whole new meaning.

After that, Pansy, and most of the Slytherin House, had steered clear of Blaise and her temper.

"D-Draco, make her stop," Parkinson whined, shrinking away from the girl's glare.

That was her breaking point. A lot of frustration had been pent up inside of the Zabini girl and it was about time for it to come out. And the blonde was acting like the perfect target.

"Pansy, no body cares about you!" she spat out venomously. "Not Draco, not Millicent and 'specially not me! We've got out own things to deal with." Her dark eyes darted from face to face as she breathed heavily through her nostrils. "Now, we're all going to finish buying our school stuff and then worry about the Ministry. Understood?"

Millicent blinked several times at the other girl's outburst and took several steps back, thanking her lucky stars that she wasn't the one receiving the blunt anger. "Well, I'll see you all at school."

Tucking the parchment into her pocket, she quickly made her escape. Regrettable as it may have been to not watch this first hand, she knew that she would hear about this at school and if Pansy fainted, Blaise would need someone else to take her anger out on. That was what Draco was there for.

None of them really noticed Millicent's departure, but that was to be expected. As Pansy's bottom lip trembled and she clung tighter to Draco's already numb arm, Blaise's eyes flashed.

"Get the fuck off him," she ordered, voice low and deadly. "What part of "he can't stand you" don't you understand?"

Instantly, Pansy let go and eyed Blaise the way one would a bomb or guard dog. For someone that wasn't a jealous girlfriend or angry ex, the girl was acting pretty possessive. But not was not the time for that to be mentioned if you valued your body parts. Still, she actually sniffled when Blaise took Malfoy by the wrist as a precaution and began dragging him away.

"Blaise-" he began cautiously, testing the waters.

The brunette whirled around and shouted, "Shove it!"

He instantly made a face of terror and shut up very, very quicky. He had worked out over the summer - because Quidditch did jack squat for toning the body and how was he going to get a girl if he was as scrawny as Weasley or Potter? - but he knew that that meant nothing when Blaise was on a rampage. She would have him on his back, begging for mercy before he could react. Actually... that sounded like an interesting position. He'd have to give it a try sometime.

After leading them out of the desolate Knockturn Alley, the girl stopped and spun around to glare at him once more. Her long hair flew around her in thick, wet clumps and then plastered itself onto her shoulders or face. "What, Malfoy?"

"N-nothing," he responded, quailing under her flashing eyes. "Just... you're really possessive."

She snarled at him and then looked around like she hadn't heard what he said. "For getting you out of there, you owe me an ice cream. A big one."

"Now?"

"No, next year," she snapped sarcastically.

"Yes, ma'am," Draco said as he ducked out of the shelter of the buildings and into the rain that had been steadily increasing. The streets were now mostly empty with the people hiding under the shade of their umbrellas or running with their arms over their heads from one building to the next. He felt bad for abandoning Pansy and really sorry for her because he knew how scary Blaise could be when she yelled. If the Dark Lord had been female, who knows what he could have been able to do before he was thwarted originally.

"Ow! Watch where you're going, jackass!"

Malfoy turned, looking over his shoulder at Blaise who had been thrown unceremoniously on her butt after running into a black haired someone who had also been knocked back off his feet.

"Sorry," he mumbled, fishing around for his glasses on the ground and finding that the impact had cracked them. Where was Hermione when she could have been useful? "Here."

He reached out with one hand, intending to help the rather blurry person up.

"Don't touch me, Potter!"

That time he recognized the voice and, putting on his disfigured glasses, recognized the person that he had crashed into. "Oh, Zabini."

"Yes "Oh, Zabini." Who did you think I was?" she spat before getting to her feet and brushing her hands against the back of her jeans to wipe them off.

Seeing as she looked surprisingly like a vampire or other creature of darkness that had been thrown in a lake and then fished out, Harry chose to not reply. Nor could he hold eye contact with her. So he dropped his gaze, thinking it to be the wise thing to do at the moment. It wasn't until after she yelled at him once more that he realized that it was more of a stupid thing to do because the rain had made her loose shirt much more form fitting than it would have been dry and that his eyes were more or less on her chest.

"What the hell, Potter?" she snarled and instantly crossed her arms tightly over her small breasts. "You're worse than Malfoy."

"Blaise, I think that was a little low," commented the Slytherin casually though he was thoroughly enjoying the show.

"Shove it."

"Zabini, it wasn't like I saw anything," Potter said, trying to defend himself.

The girl's eyes flashed and she rounded on him, positively fuming. "Just because I'm less developed than Lavender Brown doesn't mean that I appreciate being stared at. You're really, really asking for it, Potter."

"Blaise, remember what your mum said? Be calm and don't start fights? 'Specially with the Boy Who Lived?"

"Shove it, Malfoy!"

"Blaise, ice cream?"

She sulked and her lips came dangerously close to a pout. After shoving her way past Harry, she walked in the direction of the somewhat famous ice cream parlor. "Watch your back at school, Potter."

Wonderful, Blaise Zabini wanted him dead. Well, that was definitely going to put a damper on his happy mood. And here Potter was thinking that he'd be safe at school. Big mistake apparently.

"Draco?"

"Yea, Blaise?"

The girl sighed and for a moment he thought that the majority of her rage was done and over with. Then she cracked the knuckles on her right hand.

"I need to hit something."

He patted her shoulder carefully while remaining a safe distance from her so that she wouldn't get any ideas. "You shoved Potter pretty hard into the street."

"After he shoved me!" she protested. "And stared at my chest!"

"Lucky bastard," Draco mumbled before yelping as Blaise's foot connected sharply with his shin.

"I heard that!"

"Zabini, if you beat me to a bloody pulp, I won't be able to buy you ice cream."

The girl tugged moodily at several strands of her soaked hair and thought about the situation for a while as she watched Draco hopping on his good leg and trying to shake the jolt of pain out of his bad one.

"But I could steal your money," she said brightly.

"Oh, Blaise," he began, looping a casual arm over her shoulders. "You wouldn't do that."

The Zabini girl rolled her eyes and looked up at the falling rain and the thick storm clouds that had rolled in. Why did it have to pour the one day that she was out buying school supplies? Couldn't it have waited? Better now than earlier, she decided. Wet horse smelled horrible.

When she looked down and over at Draco to reply, she found that his eyes were focusing on an area that was very much off limits.

"Aaarrgghh! Malfoy!"

"Ow! Bloody hell, Zabini! I was only looking!"


	4. A Real Life Vampire!

**Author's Note: **Sorry it took me so long to update this! As you can see, this chapter's a lot longer than the others. (And I still don't think that it's done. --;; ) It just started getting really long and involved and I decided that I should finish it and take a breather. So, hopefully this chapter is good. I'm not really sure what I think of it. Oh yes, and before I forget, the reason Draco and Blaise are the only "kids" at Alexandro's banquet is because Draco is the man of the house since his father is in Azkaban so he has to show up, and Blaise is Alexandro's daughter so she has to sit there, look pretty, bitch about Harry and then go. Sorta.

_Eniyou_: I don't think of myself as defending the bad people, more like, giving them a voice. But hey, they do need someone to speak up for them, don't they? And, quite honestly, I don't think that Pansy is a slut. She's just a desperate, pug-faced girl. Besides, although their parents might not be that wonderful, Slytherins choose to be evil. Look at the luverly Sirius Black. His parents were evil and he wasn't.

_Broadwaypoetess_: Yup. Pansy was asking for it, wasn't she? And, about the ice cream, let's hear it for girls that can get guys to do anything for 'em!

_Elven Sword_: Thank you so much. Your reviews always make me feel really good about my writing. Because I've realized that having lots of detected errors is bad for a story (no, duh), I'm going to go back and correct everything. I hope you like this chapter too although it's more of a transition than anything else.

_JeanB_: Well, then it's a very good thing that you didn't stop reading! I started the story that way because I didn't want to get halfway through the first chapter and still have Blaise be the "amazing androgynous wonder." I've heard that JK made her a girl, but, in my opinion, it took JK forever to decide a frickin' character's gender, so who really cares anymore? And don't worry, it takes a _lot_ to unnerve me.

_Tynkerbell_: -bows- Many thanks.

------

Licking the remains of ice cream off her lips, Blaise rocked back in her chair, the majority of her temper gone and a content look on her face. Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor truly did have the best sundaes in the Wizarding World. Well, she did have a really good ice cream one time when visiting her father's family in Rome, but she couldn't zip off to Rome every time she had a craving, not until she learned to Apparate that is.

"You have ice cream on your nose." Draco licked a drip off the side of his ice cream cone and raised an eyebrow in her direction. "How did you manage that?"

The girl made a face, trying to get her tongue to reach the tip of her nose and failing quite wonderfully. Intent on getting the ice cream off without using her napkin, she began wiggling her nose outrageously, similar to how some rabbit would. Her friend couldn't help but snort and roll his eyes at her antics.

"You're not succeeding, darling," he said patronizingly.

"You're not helping."

A small group of six-year-old children entered the parlor, seeking shelter from the rain. They all looked shockingly identical and, when two frazzled looking adults entered after them, it became painfully obvious that they were triplets. If either of the two Slytherins had been more compassionate, they probably would have felt for the poor parents.

Blaise stopped wriggling her nose when one of them pointed at her and shrieked with laughter. Glaring daggers at the small child, she wiped her nose with her napkin and found herself locked in a staring contest.

"Don't blink," Draco told her, smirking in amusement.

Viciously, the girl turned and whacked him upside the head before looking back at the six year old who widened his eyes in shock and ducked behind his two sisters.

"Please tell me why I haven't gotten brain damage from you yet," he grumbled, putting a hand to the back of his head and closing his eyes. It was a good thing that he had given up on gel before third year started or his aerodynamic hair would have probably been sticking up like he didn't know how to properly create a mohawk.

"You're too thick headed for that."

Snorting at her, he returned to his chocolate ice cream, eating it slowly and tantalizingly, trying Blaise's patience for having finished off her sundae so quickly. He waggled his eyebrows suggestively at her when she scowled at him and, to keep from laughing or showing any signs of amusement, Blaise turned away, forcing her lips to not twitch into any happy expression.

One of the girls looked at her siblings and they held a hushed conversation while their parents placed an order of two vanilla ice creams, one with chocolate sauce, one with caramel and both with magic wand and wizard hat shaped sprinkles and a Dragon Tracks Delight sundae. Finally, she made her way towards Blaise and stopped infront of the girl. Just in case she didn't already have the girl's attention, she poked her in the arm.

"Can you go out if there are clouds in the sky?" she asked seriously, twirling a stick straight lock around her index finger.

"Excuse me?" Blaise asked, raising a dark eyebrow.

"My brother thought you were a banshee, but we decided that you're a vampire. Can you go out if there are clouds in the sky?"

While Blaise pressed her lips together tightly, Draco snorted into his ice cream, his face beginning to change colors as he choked on what was in his mouth.

Rather than reply, she looked at the little girl who anxiously awaited a response and then in one movement pulled back her lips to show her teeth, leaned forwards and made a cat-like hissing sound in the girl's face. She shrieked, positively quivering on the spot before running back to her brother and sister.

As soon as that distraction was taken care off, she rounded on Malfoy who had his face buried in his arms as he struggled to swallow and for air. She continued to stare at him blankly, as if he were rather slow, until he finally lifted his head, face flushed, and took a few gulping breaths.

"That was amusing in your opinion, wasn't it?" she asked simply.

He nodded and then, from the look on her face, began fighting back laughter once more, this time without the danger of choking. If Blaise had been in his position, she probably would have been laughing pretty hard as well.

The true breaking point for Draco's ability to conceal his laughter came when, after the parents returned with their children's ice cream, the only child who hadn't had any interaction with Blaise yet pointed at the dark haired girl and said loudly, "Mummy, Daddy, look! It's a real life goblin!"

"No! We said she was a vampire!"

"- Oh! Yeah! She's a real life vampire, Daddy!"

Poor Draco couldn't take it any more. He burst out laughing and began pounding a fist on the table, his sides positively splitting. Everyone her half of the parlor seemed to look at the children and then her, some of them snickering to themselves at the look of contempt on her face. The triplet's parents instantly herded their children to the other side of the parlor, telling them to eat their ice cream and not say another word.

Minute later, the blond looked up, a hand to his side and a broad grin on his face. "Blaise, that was priceless."

Not nearly as amused, she stood huffily, crossing her arms.

"Come on, Zabini. Laugh it out. You know you want to."

"Draco," she said, looking at him without any expression. "My sides are splitting."

Malfoy polished off his ice cream, standing slowly. "Shall we finish here and head to the privacy of your home?"

Blaise threw him a look, blowing some of her partially dry hair away from her face. "Haha, Malfoy."

"Told you you wanted to laugh."

"Shove it."

He made a face, sucking on his teeth before giving her a nudge towards the door. "Out to the elements, Zabini. Don't let the sun kill you."

Naturally, he was thrown a dirty look from Blaise while a couple of teenage girls at a table near him giggled and whispered something behind their hands. He winked at them cockily before being pulled by the arm out the door.

"You're the one who said we had to get going, Malfoy! Stop flirting with the bimbos!"

Still, as he was being half dragged out, he mouthed "Owl me" back to them and laughed.

"Mother!" Blaise shouted the instant she and Malfoy walked over the threshold of her fireplace. Getting no reply, she growled and screamed louder, making Draco wince in the process. "MOTHER!"

Instead of her mother, however, the Zabini's large, Grim-like dog came running at them from around the corner, barking madly with his fur standing on end. If Draco had been five or six years younger, he probably would have wet himself in fear.

Unfazed by the sight of her overly aggressive, somewhat bloodthirsty dog pounding towards her, Blaise cast it one look. "Dracul, at ease."

The dog instantly stopped barking and began panting, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. When his owner set down the bags she was carrying, he nudging her hand with a wet nose, begging for attention.

"Jesus Christ, Blaise. Put a muzzle on your dog," Draco said, breathing heavily and carefully edging around the dog, setting his things on the table. To say that he nearly had a heart attack would be a pretty good way to explain how the adrenaline was pumping through his veins.

"Relax, Malfoy. I only feed him Gryffindors," she said, stroking her dog's head before shouting once more, "Mother!"

"Blaise Adriana Zabini," her mother said tensely, entering the room and storming towards her daughter, her index finger extended. "If you shout one more time, no one will know what I did to your body."

"Hullo, Mum, nice to see you," Blaise replied, crossing over and kissing her mother's cheek. "Guess who I crashed into near what once was Knockturn Alley?"

"Who?"

"Potter, our favorite hero."

Nicoleta raised an eyebrow and then looked over at Draco, finally noticing his presence and how he was still trying to avoid the dog that kept walking towards him, looking for someone to pay attention to him. "He won't bite."

Muttering something suspiciously similar to, "Why would I think that?" he hesitantly patted the dog's head. Like magic, Dracul's tail began wagging madly and he licked the young man's hand, nearly giving him a heart attack again from surprise.

"So what was Potter doing around Knockturn Alley?" Blaise's mother asked, looking at what her daughter had bought. In curiosity, she opened a small box and took out a platinum ring with countless tiny stones that sparkled like diamonds imbedded around its length. "Blaise, why did you get this?"

The brunette took the ring from her mother, placed it on her thumb and twirled it. With each spin, the gems changed from rubies, to sapphires, emeralds and several others before back to diamonds. "Because it's pretty."

Her mother rolled her eyes and shook her head. "And Potter?"

"I have no idea," she snorted, watching Draco with amusement from the corner of her eye as he tried to stop Dracul from jumping up and licking his face. "I just crashed into him. Down, Dracul."

The dog stopped, looked over at Blaise and then trotted over, sniffing her bags curiously. It was hard to believe that only moments earlier it looked ready to rip out someone's throat.

"Your father is having several other people over for dinner tonight. Once word got out about Knockturn Alley, it spread like wild fire."

Blaise shrugged one shoulder, looking over at her mother. "And?"

"You are expected to be there, at least for part of the time, and it is a formal affair," her mother replied, watching her daughter's face fall. Alexandro's social engagements usually were tedious, even in Nicoleta's opinion. She could hardly imagine how dull they must be for her daughter. "In other words, Blaise, wear a dress."

Blaise positively grimaced, closing her eyes before whining, "Mother..."

"Come on, Blaise, lighten up," Draco said, leaning against the table where his schoolbooks and other purchases lay. "I'm sure you could find something to wear. Maybe with a sexy slit up the leg or plunging neckline."

He snickered softly as Blaise turned towards him, eyes on fire.

"I would hate to have to explain your body in my parlor to an investigator," she told him.

"Sure you would."

Taking a few steps towards him, she placed a hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow slowly. "Do you want to find out?"

Nicoleta cleared her throat pointedly, raising her own eyebrow in a manner perfectly identical to how her daughter did. Blaise looked over her shoulder at her mother who continued to look at her with an eyebrow raised.

"What part of "get ready for one of your father's banquets" do you not understand?" she asked.

"The whole part?" Blaise offered. Groaning softly, she looked down at her black watch. "When are they coming?"

"7:30."

Her jaw dropped and she looked at her watch once more before staring up at her mother in complete shock. "What? An hour and a half? Mother, I have to shower, change and... and..."

"Do your hair? Put on make-up? Buy a dress?" Draco suggested, getting a sound punch in the arm for his comments.

"An hour and twenty minutes, darling," corrected Nicoleta.

Making a loud sound of complete frustration and throwing her hands in the air, Blaise left the room and stormed towards the stairs. She stomped up them heavily and her mother winced ever so slightly, as if the ceiling would come falling down right around her ears.

"Draco, you and your mother are expected to show up as well. Tell her that this is supposed to be a _formal_ event, not auditions for being a harem girl," Blaise's mother said after the stomping had ended.

He shrugged one shoulder, taking his bags and returning to the fireplace. Setting them inside, he grabbed a pinch of Floo Powder, entered the grate and threw it down. "Malfoy Manor!"

Taking one look around her, and then down at the casual clothes she still wore, Nicoleta snapped for a House Elf to come clean up and then went up to her room with Dracul at her heels. She hesitated at her daughter's door, but continued on her way in relief when she heard the sound of water running. At least she was able to get Blaise moving in the right direction without much nagging. She hated having to nag all the time.

Naturally, Blaise wasn't happy with having to get ready in less than an hour and a half when it usually took her twice that long. She'd have to pick up the pace. Washing her thick hair alone would probably take half an hour. If she had it her way, she would have hacked it all off and thrown it away without a second thought. Obviously, she didn't have it her way.

With all of her dark hair piled up on her head and shampoo on her forehead, threatening to drip into her eyes, she reached for her wand that she had brought in and placed on the floor beside the large bathtub. Muttering a charm under her breath, she traced the wand down her leg, a soft blue glowing across her skin before performing the same ritual on her other leg and then under her arms. It was much more effective than shaving or waxing and it completely killed the roots after being done a dozen or so times. Being a witch had many perks.

"Shit!" she hissed. The mix of shampoo and water on her hands had made it impossible for her to hold the wand for long and it fell under the water, hidden under the thick blanket of bubbles. Just as luck would have it, as soon as she bent over to search for it, the shampoo on her forehead dripped into her eyes, burning them madly. "God dammit!!"

So, after having lost her wand, a bar of soap, the bottle of conditioner and having to look for them all, Blaise finally finished washing off and only lost 42 minutes. She had to pick up the pace and quickly.

Towel wrapped around her, she entered her room, leaving the door to her bathroom open and enough steam running into her bedroom to create a sauna affect. A sharp yelp left her as she slid across her hardwood floor, the water dripping from her hair having made it difficult for her to walk without slipping.

"Ow..." Very carefully she picked herself up from the ground, leaning on her vanity and using it to keep herself balanced as she went to her large closet to find a dress.

And yes, a dress, not dress robes. Dress robes had been popular for a very long time, but the wave of women who decided to go against conformity had begun wearing dresses. In other words, for now, dress robes had begun slipping out of sight. Men still wore them naturally and women did on occasion, but it was much more common to see a woman in some sort of dress than in dress robes.

Blaise stepped into her walk-in closet, turned her back to her Muggle and school clothes and pushed back dress after dress in the hopes that she could find something in which she could make an entrance, eat and then disappear in just as quickly. Taking out three, she left the closet and laid them on her bed, side by side, so she could compare the pros and cons of each. After nibbling her thumbnail in thought, she chose a deep purple one with an intricate pattern embroidered along the hem of the skirt.

Careful to not slip again and get more bruises that would really make people think that Slytherins were abused in their homes, she pulled on some underwear and then slipped into the dark dress. Zipping the zipper without any help was a bit of a challenge and she had to twist her arm into several strange positions, but she did eventually manage.

She twirled in front of her mirror, examining her reflection. The dress hung off one of her shoulders, the shimmering fabric folding upon itself a couple of times, and was held up on her other by a thin spaghetti strap. Draco would probably be disappointed when he saw it as it had no "sexy slits", "plunging necklines" or anything of the sort, with only a slightly plunging back. But it did fit rather snugly and comfortably around her waist before billowing out around her legs and trailing onto the floor. As she twisted and turned, the dark purple, silky material reflected a much brighter shade when caught properly with the light. This dress, of course, was chosen mostly for that reason, as there would be countless candles floating around the gigantic dining room.

The very minute she had turned thirteen, Blaise had been taught how to walk properly, how to dress oneself to attract the most attention, how to apply make up for any occasion - even funerals, and the importance of appearances. Well, at least her mother had tried to raise her properly. Then again, even Pansy probably knew just as much as Blaise did, but that didn't mean that she knew how to make a proper appearance.

Her hair was still dripping very slightly down her back when her mother entered the room, nearly scaring ten years of life out of her daughter.

Nicoleta winced as her daughter spun around quickly to see who had suddenly appeared at her door, got her legs tangled with her dress and also slipped in a puddle of water. Blaise fell with a loud crash, dragging the unfortunate wall hanging beside her down with her.

"The guests have arrived," her mother said slowly, looking at her daughter with exasperation. "And I shall have to explain the crashing noise over their heads to them, won't I?"

"Please do," she replied, picking herself up slowly while trying not to make a bigger mess of her room.

"I would suggest small heels. If you can't walk in barefeet, how could you make it down the stairs in your stilettos?"

"Don't remind me."

Closing the door behind her, Nicoleta blew a strand or two of hair away from her face and carefully made her way downstairs, a hand on the banister to keep herself from tumbling like her daughter had seconds before.

"Ah, Ptolemy, Marissa, how wonderful to see you," she said, greeting Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson with a smile to rival that of a beauty pageant contestant.

"Nicoleta, you look more radiant each time we see you," replied Ptolemy. Poor Pansy, if she had a different father, she actually would have been a pretty young girl. Her mother at least was fairly good looking. She wasn't as elegant or exotic as the Zabini women nor did she look like a model like the Black sisters did, but she wasn't that bad looking either.

Just when she was about to respond, Nicoleta was distracted by yet another crashing noise from several floors up. Her smile faltering ever so slightly, her eyes scanned the people's faces until she found Draco. She approached him and grabbed his upper arm viciously before leading him towards the stairs.

"Go find Blaise and tell her to get down here without breaking anything else," she ordered through the clenched teeth of her forced smile. After giving him a push up the stairs, she turned quickly to her guests and flashed them another fake smile. "Hors d'oeuvres anyone?"

Draco hesitated outside of Blaise's door, listening for a moment to see if anything would fall on his head or kill him if he entered.

"You really shouldn't go in there."

He turned quickly, searching for whoever had spoken, but found that he was completely alone in the corridor.

"There are several people downstairs."

His steel eyes shot towards a picture on the wall, one of an incredibly stiff and serene looking woman who was probably one of the Zabini ancestors. "Excuse me?"

"Not that I approve of what you are planning to do," she continued, looking down at him as if he were a peasant. "But shouldn't you wait for a more private time?"

"What?"

She stared at him before glancing down the hall and fanning herself lightly with her lacy fan. "If you want to sleep with you, you should wait for a more appropriate time."

He blinked in surprise and stumbled for words. However, he found none before the door opened and Blaise stood there, looking very calm and collected for all the times she had fallen over in the last half hour.

"I am coming. My mother didn't need to send the cavalry," she commented lightly, closing the door behind her. Very slowly and carefully, she took a few steps, testing out the new shoes she was wearing. Tossing a curl out of her eyes, Blaise looked over at the painting and then at Draco. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing at all," the boy responded before the painting could say anything.

"Alright then."

Draco watched as Blaise carefully put a hand on the banister and held her dress up enough to keep it from being a tripping hazard. He caught up with her rather quickly, not having to worry about tripping over anything.

"That's a lovely dress, Zabini," he commented, eyes lingering on her bare shoulders.

"Thank you, Malfoy."

"It'll be hard for you to slip away unnoticed in it."

She stopped quickly and turned to stare at him, mouth slightly open. "Excuse me?"

He merely smirked and plucked a fallen hair off her shoulder before holding out his arm for her. "Shall we?"

Tossing her head haughtily, her curled hair bouncing lightly, she ignored him. Blaise twirled the ring until the gems turned into amethysts. Unfortunately, she hadn't been paying enough attention to what she was doing and nearly fell head over heels down the steps. Grabbing Draco's arm at the last minute was all that saved her from that fate.

"That was graceful," he commented dryly.

"Malfoy..."

"Yes?"

"Shove it," she ordered sweetly before putting on a calm facade and mingling with her parents' guests.


End file.
